08 June 2015

This summer I find myself able to create the space to finally write, paint, play music, and maintain, to a certain degree, my website in progress and my blog long ignored.

This academic year of teaching Gender and Ethnic Studies in L.A and living on a sailboat in Ventura has been quite full. What adds to this year's fullness is the arrival of a baby in my body! Both a long time in my planning -- nearly 5 years -- as well as a wonderful surprise, this baby makes me deeply happy. I've been diving into, as you can imagine, research on the subject of birthing babies, and now, I've firmly settled on my birth partners. We've also had a few showers and will have more before the baby is due in September.

Old Travelogues:

I have been writing snippets for the blog on my computer, but I haven't had wifi access on the boat. Thus, here are a few travelogue pieces from 2015:

4 June 15

I’ve survived the
transition of Zack’s leaving for fishing.
I cried buckets the few days before we said goodbye, so much so,
perhaps, that I wept a bit the way home from the airport, and then cried no
more. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday
morning all were spent in clearing the way for art and writing. I literally cleaned my bedroom and what I am
calling the creative room, and then I did so with my “home” work pile up. Unemployment for part-time lecturer work,
check. 200 bucks a week. Billing
verification for prenatal and birth care, check. 10% in network, 40% out. Women baby showers for July planned,
check. Gym and yoga, check. Oliver care, check. Midwife and doula meetings, check. And so much more really.

Now, this
afternoon, thank goodness, I had the space to both write, paint, and play
music. I am grateful for the magic that
I experienced in these creative activities.

12 April 15

It’s been a moment
since I last wrote, and it’s been too long since I have posted on the old
blog. I’ve been reluctant to change it
up and develop the cristinagolondrina website even though it’s marketed in my
bios for conferences and artshows. I
still can’t decide on how to begin. And,
then, of course, I imagine a link to boat thoughts and…most recent news…baby
thoughts. Just about right after that
last blog post, on Jan 20 to be exact, I discovered I was with child, and since
then, of course, life has really transformed.
That same day, Jan 20, I began the teaching for the Spring 2015 semester
two classes on an intro to Women’s Studies, and combined baby and teaching has
really quite consumed my energy.

When I speak about
energy, I mean it. From about Jan 20 til
the beginning of April, I slept more than half of it in deep and rich dream
filled naps and nights. I also completed
changed my diet and ate protein and smaller meals that I planned out; started up
on pre-natals, folic acid, and DHA as well as iron, calcium, and chlorophyll;
and, saw an acupuncturist and chiropractor and learned that I needed to stay
warm (No cold beverages, always dry my hair) and eat papayas, kiwi, avocado,
yams, and spinach. I then read Ina May
and Birthing from Within, and between doctor visits to Kaiser – that included
an ultrasound (no twins), an image of an amoeba with legs, and a 180bpm heart
beat – we also began the journey of deciding on genetic non-invasive blood
testing. We emerged an eternity later
with a healthy prognosis and a midwife named Racha out of the LA Community
Birth Center in midtown.

Currently, we’ve
got these things on the table:

-We are
pausing to transform some of the old gender/sex roles brainwashed into us since
birth so that we can fully be present to our child (we know the sex from the
blood tests) before we announce the sex to the world.

-We are
looking for a home – a larger boat ideally.

-We are
getting a registry ready for our sisters, who are throwing us baby celebrations
this month and next. In this, we are
learning about what we actually need.

As the baby prep
continues, I’ve also had the honor of presenting at a couple conferences,
helping to plan women speakers on campus, and I’ve been painting again as well.

18 jan 15

We made a grand
dive out on Santa Cruz. First, free
diving in the kelp forests; I could see the light coming through the leaves,
and I remembered diving in Hawaii.

Then, scuba diving
around the corner; I found an abalone shell, and I saw the great big orange
fish – the Garibaldi. And the seal that
swam under us as we snorkeled we saw again I suppose when we were deeper scuba
diving…at our eye level.

Afraid at first,
but confident soon. Yes!

11 jan 15

Woke up to big leaks in the v-berth. Luckily, all were along side the starboard wall…so I wasn’t wet though the edges of my sleepside were. I let the berth dry today, and Zack washed the sheets among other things because he woke up sick in the middle of the night. Because of the rain we had a bunch of wet towels and such, so the laundry was needed.

I went out for a walk with Mr. O this morning and took a shower before getting ready for a day in the city with Reyna, Erynn, and Leti. It was a day of finding a princess dress and speaking Spanish as well as finally finding a beautiful poncho I can wear for work.

Returning to the boat, it’s relatively dry, and we put on the heater (from the Goodwill and only 8 bucks). Zack is still sick and I put on my lullaby playlist on Pandora. The good neighbor Greenwells bought Z some tom yum gang and we share this. I alslo open a bottle of the Toolin Around (Zack’s Aunt’s wine) I won for Christmas in the exchange. I’m nearly ready for bed after pulling with coconut oil the bad things from my teeth, swishing with salt water and now brushing. I’m a little concerened because I have’t started my moon. Feeling the heaviness though. Mostly concerned because of the wine I drank these last two weeks.

10 January 15

It’s now been a little over 4 months since Z and I moved onto our Islander 30 mkii Sailboat.

Today is a rainy day, and we’ve been working inside. The work includes refinishing the wood, replacing the head (bathroom) sink hose, and installing a co/smoke detector in the v-berth (the second cabin and “master bedroom” of the boat).

Oliver (my nearly 9 year old Cavalier) sleeps is the salon on my right as I type at our dining table that converts into a bed when we have company.

These last few weeks have been full of holiday celebrations as well as taking time to envision our future. This week has been putting visions into action. We ..

Got up for a moment to check on an old leak. We have tarps covering a vulnerable area on the starboard (right side) of the boat where the toe rail (made of teak and helpful for not falling when walking on the deck) has some holes we guess. Unfortunately, the tarp isn’t covering a big spot where the chain plate (metal plates that are integral to the boat) comes through into the cabin. These chain plates anchor the standing rigging that keeps the mast in place. A leak is alarming but not that special when it comes to other boats in the harbor.

The Plan:

To finally develop "z website" and to write about:

My partner’s message to our child.

My tribute to my partner before Father’s Day.

The baby moving.

The leaving of our boat home…the future plan this year, and the next five years…

Cristina Golondrina

Cristina holds a doctorate in Philosophy and Religion. She is a multiethnic women of color. Sometimes she is read as white, sometimes racially identified as “non-white/other.” She is a writer and artist exploring the themes she analyzed in her dissertation: themes of being mixed race, multilocational, and the affects of racism and colonialism in her body, in her writing, and in the literature she reads.